Summer is Winding Down

When I last posted here, Tanabata was nearing.  Since then, the festival of the sheep herder and the weaver has passed at the Bot. Garden.  Two more evening walks have taken place and the Bon Festival had over 80 candle-lit boats floating on the pond.  Music from Breaking Blues could be heard drifting over the entire garden and the turnout was huge.

It's been a busy summer with the completion of my shadowing requirements (apparently I was the first in my class to do so) and the twice monthly phenology study in the Cottonwood Gallery.  There was a volunteers appreciation dinner at the Zoo, which Caro and I attended.

I've added a few more photo spheres to Google Maps, but that was just before they restructured Google Views with it's convenient interface.  Now I'm not sure what the situation will be for 360° photos.

The home garden has been doing well, although the small patches of grass we have are suffering in some areas.  I think we'll re-sod instead of putting in flagstone... this year.  Eventually, we'll want to relocate the sprinkler heads and reduce the amount of turf we have.  The herbs and spices continue to be our best bet.  The peach tree gave us a great crop (thank you, Internet, for teaching me how to thin the fruit) and there is a bounty of pesto in the freezer.

Meanwhile, the seasons turn and daylilies have given way to crepe myrtles, the night heron at the Japanese Garden pond has raised a fine young offspring, and the roses in the High Desert Rose Garden continue to strengthen.  We've got an autographed copy of Judith Phillips' new book now (Growing the Southwest Garden) and are pleased to learn that she's struggling to work with North Valley clay soils, too.